Sett Mera (2 results)

London, Grant Richards, 1922. 28 x 23 cm. Rebound using part of the spine and illustration from the original wrappers. 112 p. Printed in 500 copies. 1st edition. Binding a bit worn and repaired. This is one of 100 numbered and signed copies, printed on Imperial Japanese paper. Stories inspired by well-known pieces of classical music by Chopin, Schumann, Dvorak, Beethoven, Tschaikowsky, Gounod, Rubinstein and other 19th century composers, illustrated by the author in a squiggly decadent style. A quaint talent, Mera Kavas Sett (1887-late 1950s or 1960s) was a 'Parsee artist' as the newspapers of a century ago put it, about whom not much is known. Possibly his full name is Mera Ben Kavas Sett. He illustrated Omar Khayyam about 1914 (see about this Omariana Vol. 10, nr. 1); this is his only other publication, and fairly rare.

First edition, one of 250 copies only. Born into Mumbai's Parsee community, Sett matriculated at Downing College, Cambridge, in 1910, and began this project in 1912. When British publishers offered to produce only an attenuated version of his sensuous illustrations, his father funded private publication through the Cambridge bookstore Galloway & Porter. Sett's decadent interpretation raised eyebrows among Western audiences. In his preface, Sett attacks Western-centric comparisons between his style and that of Aubrey Beardsley. After the Second World War, the work was reissued in Mumbai. Potter 104. Large octavo. Illustrated title page, 30 plates (15 with captioned tissue guards). Original black cloth, spine and front cover lettered and decorated in gilt, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Light wear to cloth, more so at one point along top edge of front board, small tidemarks on pastedowns: very good.